By Tamica Garnett
Guyana’s 21-member Goodwill Games swimming team will depart this morning for August 13 – 15 Games in Suriname.
This year the team’s strength lies in the girls’ 13 – 14 category, which carries the weight of the team’s experience.
This category will vie on the very proficient capabilities of former Goodwill Games gold medalists, Britany van Lange, and Soroya Simmons along with silver medalist Athena Gaskin.
The team will be void of the presence of Athena Foo who, after scheduling to attend the games had to pull out because of illness.
Previously the boy’s 15 – 17 category was the team’s strength but this category will feature the debut of some new talent.
The team previously relied upon national swimmers Henk Lowe and Niall Roberts but this year Roberts is ineligible because he surpassed the age limit while Lowe is representing Guyana at the inaugural World Youth Olympic Games.
The category will see new talent in Kevon De Moura, Joseph Seguina, Jaime Jabar and Sheik Amir.
Amir and Jabar have attended the Goodwill Games before.
The team will be accompanied by chaperones Jean La Rose, Kamala van Lange and coach Shyka Gonsalves.
Speaking with Stabroek Sports yesterday, Gonsalves said that she believes that the team was very much prepared for the occasion.
She disclosed that for the past two weeks the team has been “tapering” at the Castellani Pool in preparation for the event and from the displays they have shown great competence.
“For the past two weeks the team has been tapering at the pool. And during this time this is when we cut down on the mileage, the length that the swimmers swim, and increase on the intensity of the training, that is they have to swim harder,” Gonsalves stated.
Along with the help of the assistant coach, Christopher McAdam, Gonsalves said that during these past few weeks they have been “cleaning up” on the young swimmers’ starts, their finishes, as well as their turns.
“We have been cleaning up some aspects of the swimmers’ performance. We have been working on their finishes; we have been working on their starts and on their turns as well,” Gonsalves said.
She disclosed that she has been working with the 9 – 10, boys 11 – 12 and the girls’ 13 – 14 category, while McAdam tackled the boys 13 – 14 and 15 – 17 boys.
Additionally, Gonsalves stated that they have been using the past two weeks to work on the togetherness of the team, conveying that it gave the swimmers a chance to begin to train together as they have been training separately, coming from four differing swimming clubs.
“These swimmers come from four different clubs and they have been training separately with their clubs, and so for the past few weeks we have been having them training together. We need them to interact with each other and form a bond because they will be operating as a team.
The team was expected to begin its journey to Suriname at 05:00 hrs this morning.
